Veterans Slam Trump for Border Move: “It’s a political ploy to blow upon the embers of racism and nativism, and he is using the military again as a political prop to advance his own agenda”

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced he was sending over 5,000 additional troops to the US/Mexico border to protect the country from the coming caravan of immigrant refugees.

While it may be just a ploy to dominate the news cycle leading into the midterm elections next week, many are slamming the move, including many veterans.

While some senior military officers defend the deployment for the sake of national security, the mission creates more questions from many veterans who are calling it a political stunt by Trump who is eager to fire up his political base just days away from the midterm elections.

“Donald Trump thinks unarmed people who are fleeing horrors and are still 1,000 miles away are a national security threat a week before election day?”

Will Fischer said, a former Marine now working for the VoteVets veteran’s organization.

“I don’t think so,” Fischer said. “It’s a political ploy to blow upon the embers of racism and nativism, and he is using the military again as a political prop to advance his own agenda”

Fischer and other veterans question the unknown cost to taxpayers, given the fact that even much smaller deployments of National Guard cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The veterans also question the cost the military will bear, as the operation “pulls troops away from training, other missions and their families.” Then, of course, the veterans question the legality of the mission, its scope and its purpose.